Slugs...

I've been reading tonight on the forum about slugs.  I'm north of Seattle, and the slugs even got to the cabbage I planted in pots on my second story deck last summer.  How did they do that???  I've been reading about salt, beer, red pepper, egg shells, wood chips... I'm at a loss.  :-)  Does anything really work to keep the slugs at bay?  I'd love to plant cabbage this year, but hate the slugs!

First, welcome to the Forum from California.

Sluggo Plus. It's amazing how high snails and slugs will climb for a good meal. I have them up in a Wisteria, over 8' high. SP also takes care of sow bugs / rolly pollies.

Thanks for the quick reply!  I will buy Sluggo Plus, and plant cabbage!  Life is good!!!

Hi Fayejd.  Welcome from Atlanta, GA!

Would chickens be another option...?  And you get free fertilizer with them!

I have heard of using copper tape. The slugs won't cross over the copper when put on the edge of your SFG.

Thanks, katjohn83!  That's a great idea... I'll look into that.  With the slugs we have up here, I need all the help I can get. 

I read in a composting book recently that toads LOVE to eat slugs. 

Last year I had a toad that kept jumping into one of my boxes.  I kept taking him out thinking he was trapped in there. After I covered with plastic, I would find him caught in a crevice of the plastic, still trying to jump in.  I finally gave up and let him live in there.  But now I understand what he was after -  a smorgasbord of slugs.

CC

Did you know that we can eat slugs?  Very high in protein apparently.

I'm guessing they're similar to snails....  Yeah....  don't do those either!

our chickens LOVE slugs!

I second the Sluggo Plus.....it works pretty good if you put it down every so often....we are south of you and have tons of slugs as well

happy gardening
rose

Welcome!

And ditto(ditto ditto etc.) on the Sluggo Plus. Tip: Buy it in the hugest possible quantity. Not only does rain dissolve it, but the price drops dramatically as quantity rises. If you really have a snail and slug problem, you will use every bit of it. It's worth driving around town to find the biggest container.

And those critters are so horrifically destructive (they can strip a plant completely overnight OR LESS) that you will likely want to do whatever it takes to stop them before it's too late. It's way too much money ... but ... ugh ... still well-spent.

For what it's worth, I've read that the copper thing is pretty much a myth.

Others swear by all sorts of things -- beer traps, putting boards or newspaper on the ground and lifting them up the next morning to find a world o' slugs underneath to kill, etc. -- so there are a lot of things worth trying. Only thing is, it points out there's not one solution that works for everyone, as for every great solution you find, there's someone saying they're trying something else because that other thing just did not work. So you may have to find your own path.

Ditto, Marc. The strongest pesticide I use is Neem Oil. Even that I'm cautious about the bees. But, Sluggo? I love it. I'm going to put a teeny helping of dry yeast in the snail jars/traps/feed stations to see if they are even more attracted to it.

Does the regular Sluggo work as well as the Sluggo Plus?

Sluggo Plus also kills earwigs, pillbugs, and cutworms.  Quite an advantage, I'd say!

No problems with those, Donna, just the slugs...so far.

The OP says that the slugs got up to the 2nd story.  Is that even possible?  Or could it have been cabbage worms brought in by the cabbage butterfly?

CC

AN amazing find that I will be trying this summer.  Quack grass makes a nerve poison for slugs! 

[url=http://www.ghorganics.com/page13.html#More on Quackgrass for Slug Control]Quackgrass for Slug Control[/url]

I just saw this from WonderfulEngineering.com and thought is was a great idea:

It's supposed to be a water proof outlet.
What if we put our slug bait in these, laying sideways in the box?  Beer, Sluggo, whatever...

CC

this may help. simple.

Has, Looking at the photo, it looks like a good set up.

Nice, and no wasted beer + compost booster, win, win, win!

I used the same type container method for an ant bait station with boric acid and dark karo syrup but with very small holes to keep out the bees.

I like this idea!  

Thanks, Has55!!  Once again, you've come thru with some great info!

Excellent slug trap! Thanks, Hass55. I could put a rock or brick on the top to keep the wind from blowing it away.

CC

CapeCoddess wrote:Excellent slug trap!  Thanks, Hass55.  I could put a rock or brick on the top to keep the wind from blowing it away.

CC

Or a rock inside the container would keep it more stable.

yolos wrote:I used the same type container method for an ant bait station with boric acid and dark karo syrup but with very small holes to keep out the bees.

thanks yolos for that ant idea. did it work? I try another idea with BA and syrup, peanut butter, but it was too messy and the ants didn't come. I was using it to stop them from bringing aphids to my cucumbers.